Come tu mi vuoi

AS YOU DESIRE ME (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1932), directed by George Fitzmaurice, taken from the play by Luigi Pirandello, stars Greta Garbo in what may be considered atypical role from her formula material. Aside from this being her shortest Hollywood feature film (70 minutes), and the only one where, early into the story, sports a short platinum haircut, here she plays an amnesic woman searching for her identity. Another interesting aspect to this nearly forgotten melodrama is the casting of the youthful Melvyn Douglas and veteran actor/ director Erich Von Stroheim as her co-stars.

The plot opens in Budapest (Hungary), 1925, in a café where the sultry Zara (Greta Garbo) sings (off screen dubbing) to the beer drinking patrons. As Zara entertains her guests, Albert (Roland Varno), a college student; The Baron (Albert Conti) and a Captain (Warburton Gamble) in her dressing room with a drinking party, she is soon approached by a man (Owen Moore) calling out to her by the name of "Maria." After closing the door on him, Zara later returns home, accompanied by her male admirers where they make the acquaintance with her live-in lover, famous novelist Carl Salter (Erich Von Stroheim). Moments following their departure, Tony reappears, explaining the reason for his visit. He tells Zara and Carl of being an artist who painted a portrait of Maria, whom he recognizes as Zara. Maria is said to be an Italian countess and wife of his very best friend, Count Bruno Varelli, who, ten years ago during the World War, mysteriously disappeared following an invasion and destruction of her home by drunken Austrian soldiers. Having no recollection of those missing years and being amnesic herself, Zara, thinking she could be that woman, leaves with Tony against the protests of the possessive Carl, trying to hold her at gunpoint . Upon her arrival with Tony by train to Florence (Italy), Zara, having transformed herself to physically resemble the missing countess, is reunited with her grief-stricken husband, Bruno (Melvyn Douglas), now an officer in the Italian Army, and her loyal servants (Rafaela Ottiano and William Riccardi). Aside from having restored their home to the way it was, Bruno makes every effort in helping "Maria" regain her memory. Though "Maria" strongly doubts herself being the countess, her strong resemblance and happy greeting the great dane, Rex, a family dog, proves otherwise. Things become more complex upon the arrival of Carl Salter, a psychiatrist (Reginald Barlow) and an amnesic veiled woman who's been a patient at his sanitarium since the time of Countess Maria's disappearance, causing more doubt for all.

Following the pattern of Garbo's romantic sounding movie titles as LOVE (1927), ROMANCE (1930) and INSPIRATION (1931), AS YOU DESIRE ME (lifted from the Garbo line, "Take me and make me as you desire me") is less a love story and more of a mix of riddle and mystery. Appearing more theatrical mostly towards the end, it proved more interesting through spoken words rather than by its actions. The basic premise of AS YOU DESIRE ME was used to better advantage in ANASTASIA (20th Century-Fox, 1956) that earned Ingrid Bergman an Academy Award as Best Actress. Though not a remake, themes of this nature where amnesic victim becomes someone else, makes good storytelling, and guessing from the viewer's part all worth while.

Garbo's initial entrance dressed in black tight slacks and blonde wig is somewhat unbecoming to her screen personality but makes up for it during its second half, looking more like the traditional Garbo, a woman of mystery. Von Stroheim, quite menacing, as usual, nearly steals the show from his leading players, while Melvyn Douglas, early in his career, makes a satisfactory husband, though far from convincing as an Italian. Douglas would work with Garbo again in comedies, NINOTCHKA (1939) and TWO-FACED WOMAN (1941), the latter which marked the end to Garbo's movie career.

Though AS YOU DESIRE ME could have been a little longer by developing its characters to a little further extent, as it appears, it's fine the way it is, even with limited underscoring. Among the members of the cast is Hedda Hopper, future Hollywood columnist, playing Maria's sister, Ines, and Edmund Breese as the Friar. Distributed to video cassette in 1990, AS YOU DESIRE ME turns up from time to time on Turner Classic Movies cable channel. (***)

In an otherwise uninspiring film, the Pirandello drama seems to be tailormade for the Garbo mystique. I wonder if any Hollywood director would attempt a Pirandello play today. I salute the director for picking up the play to make a film--but unfortuntely the combination of Pirandello and Garbo could have been wonderful had it had been creatively handled. Eric von Stroheim's role is again colorless for actor-director who made memorable films.

AS YOU DESIRE ME (1932) directed by George Fitzmaurice (the director of another Garbo movie, MATA HARI from 1931) is the only film with Greta Garbo in which she portrays a character derived from a play by a Sicilian playwright, Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936). The story is very interesting and involving - a Budapest night club performer, Zara, who has lost her long term memory is clamored by an unknown visitor to be Maria, the wife of an Italian baron named Bruno. Although, this does not convince her particularly, she travels to Italy, to Bruno's estate where she meets the baron and finds true love in him. As a result, Zara/Maria finds a solution to her hesitations - never to leave him and to become so "as he desires her" because of his love. The film, however, is not executed very well. Except for some truly memorable moments and some of the best cast, there is nothing unforgettable here - the cinematography is not particularly outstanding, there are some direction shortcomings. Nevertheless, it is worth a look, especially for Garbo fans.

AS YOU DESIRE ME is the only film in which Greta Garbo appears in a blonde wig (fortunately not throughout the entire film but in its first 35 minutes). Although she is not the Garbo that we find in CAMILLE, GRAND HOTEL or CONQUEST, she ALSO gives a wonderful performance throughout. Therefore, it may be said that this film is also full of magic and incredible atmosphere that most Garbo's films can boast up till our times, rich in computer filming and automatic visual effects. SPOILERS: However, other performances are not great, some are even so weak that the value of the film is deduced. Melvyn Douglas, who later appeared in two other films with Garbo (in the wonderfully funny NINOTCHKA by Lubitsch and the infamous boring TWO FACED WOMAN by Cukor), is not that memorable in the role of Bruno in AS YOU DESIRE ME. Consequently, Garbo's great performance is partly lost. Others are also quite pale, including Owen Moore who plays Tony. But the ultimate failure is the choice of Erich Von Stroheim. Although he was a very good director (think about his GREED), what he does in the role of cruel Salter, is a distortion of acting. He behaves as if he did not know how to play! There is no power even in the "controversial" prolonged upside down shot of Salter desirously kissing Zara. In this case, I could not stand him in the scenes with Garbo because the contrast of their performances was so huge that it is not easy to watch the scenes without burning nerves in oneself. Hopefully, however, there are not many shots of Von Stroheim and Garbo. I have read in TCM article that this was the time when Von Stroheim had the most serious problems with MGM. Nevertheless, he should have done a better job. But let us mention some strong points instead of talking about one actor who highly spoiled the film.

AS YOU DESIRE ME is memorable thanks to a lovely scene in the Italian inn when Garbo and Douglas spend their first night of love. Delicate Italian music is played in the background while they talk. Consider the cigarettes... doesn't it remind you of the silent masterpiece FLESH AND THE DEVIL (1926)? Of course, Douglas is not Gilbert and there is not such a chemistry between the stars here as it was in Clarence Brown's silent masterpiece. Nevertheless, the scene is very beautiful with delicate lighting and really nice performances. And the final moment - stereotypical sentence "I love you" is in no way kitschy but rather sounds good and does serve its purpose even nowadays (to move the audiences).

Although AS YOU DESIRE ME was clamored to be Garbo's last film (she left for Sweden in summer 1932), it is a nice movie. But, it is important to state that it is accurate only as a film, not as an adaptation of Pirandello's play. Pity that the play has not been adapted onto screen once again in the 1950s, 1960s or later. Why is Fitzmaurice's movie worth a look? MOSTLY thanks to GRETA GARBO. What an unforgettable actress she was!

This film is almost forgotten but remains one of the most unusual in Garbo's career. It was daring to use a Pirandello play (what remains of it) and the stylistic inconsistencies are actually absolutely right for the theme that nothing is what it seems (but could be, if we so desired it). Compare it to "Two faced Woman" ten years later, also with Douglas and also about confusions of identity. You will see how much better is the earlier film and how much more beautiful Garbo was, even in a fright wig. George Fitzmaurice was a talented director with a great sense of style. Like most early sound films you have to see a good copy. Much of what we see now is just a travesty of the original and makes it very hard to appreciate its real quality.

Pirandello's play is brilliant, but this script, and story, bears only a passing resemblance.

Lena is NOT a servant, she is the woman's aunt, who brought her up. The woman does NOT hang around in the play, she leaves them all with the mad woman, who, in my opinion, DOES turn out to be the long-lost Maria.

Why change the names? They were perfectly suitable for the screen.

This was a case of scriptwriting for its own sake, not a screen adaptation.

Performances were typical of all really, but the faithless destruction of the original material lets this down terribly.